


Orientation Day

by AuroraTheTinyDragon



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But they aren't the focus - Freeform, Gen, Next Gen Characters, Not really any shipping present either, One Shot, Original Character(s), Other characters are mentioned as well - Freeform, So they're not tagged, There's some mentioned relationships and a crush, They're just not as important I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraTheTinyDragon/pseuds/AuroraTheTinyDragon
Summary: Kudzu was absolutely NOT looking forward to attending the strange school inside of the mountain, far away from everything he was used to. Even thinking about it made him feel sick to his stomach and all he wanted to do was hide.But there was no arguing with his mother and so he found himself on his way to Jade Mountain Academy to attend something called an "Orientation", a day dedicated to touring the school and maybe even making friends before classes officially started.As if that would ever happen.
Relationships: Starflight/Sunny (mentioned), Tamarin/Pike (Mentioned)
Kudos: 4





	Orientation Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on my DeviantART page, where it was going to stay as it focuses primarily on my own fan characters and I wasn't sure if anyone here would be interested. But after thinking it over for a bit, I thought, why the heck not?
> 
> Takes place in my AU, the Sunspotverse.
> 
> Wings of Fire belongs to Tui T Sutherland

_Jade Mountain Academy._ That’s what he had heard his mother call it. A “school” or something, a place for him to learn and to socialize with other dragons his age and most importantly, to stay so his mother could _finally_ have a _break_ from this _absolutely exhausting_ journey called motherhood.

Which honestly, Kudzu thought was a little ridiculous. There were dragons his age in the rainforest. They weren’t very nice to him and often called him names, but they were still there. And he was pretty sure he had overheard some of the older dragons say there were other schools also in the rainforest. Couldn’t he go learn at one of those? They had to be much closer than this academy they were heading to.

If he had to guess, Kudzu thought that last reason was really why they were going to a place so far away from home. He wasn’t quite sure if that’s actually why he had to go there, but he knew he really, really wasn’t looking forward to it. He wasn’t a fan of change. Being torn away from what was familiar to him and then being thrown into something new frightened him to no end.

But, the decision wasn’t up to him. So here he was, a little over a year old, flying to this so called “school” with his mother, Foxglove. Or well, she was flying, anyways. Kudzu’s wings had given out not long after they left the rainforest and Foxglove has had to carry him ever since. Which of course she was none too happy about.

“Oh, thank the trees!” he heard his mother exclaim. The sudden noise startled him a bit after the long stretch of silence they had going. “I can finally see that stupid school.”

Kudzu shifted a bit in her grip and swung his head around so he could also see the school.

Looming ahead of them was an absolutely massive mountain, much bigger than anything Kudzu had ever seen. It was even bigger than the trees in the rainforest and they were absolutely gigantic compared to him! The size alone was enough to send Kudzu into a panic. How would he know where to go? Had anyone ever gotten lost in there? Would he get lost in there? It seemed very likely that Kudzu would take a wrong turn somewhere and never be able to find his way back out again.

His mother began banking towards a grassy ledge that was jutting out the side of the mountain. There was a large opening around which dozens of colorful shapes had gathered. Other dragons most likely.

Which was just another reason Kudzu was not looking forward to going here. Too many unfamiliar dragons to contend with and too much noise, always too much noise. The fear was beginning to make him feel sick. He wished he could make it stop. 

Shivering, he buried his head against his mother’s chest. He didn’t want to look at the mountain anymore.

His mother’s grip tightened on him, just the slightest bit. He could feel her claws digging into his scales. “Don’t be such a baby Kudzu,” she hissed, a terrible sound snaking through his head. “You’ll be fine here.”

_Easy for her to say,_ he thought.

Foxglove soared down to the ledge, dumping Kudzu onto the ground so she could land gracefully on all fours. Kudzu sprang to his feet and slunk back closer to his mother. Despite her mannerisms, she was the only familiar thing around and so he didn’t want to leave her side.

They had landed a fair distance from the opening into the mountain,a cave it was called, if he remembered correctly. Most of the dragons Kudzu had seen had already gone inside by the looks of it. Only a few of them stood by the entrance, chatting with each other. Kudzu allowed his curiosity to take over just a bit and he crawled out from underneath his mom to observe his surroundings.

There was so much color on the ledge! Almost the entire thing was covered with grass and speckled with all sorts of little flowers, red ones and yellow ones and blue ones. The only portion that didn’t have any plants on it was a stretch of dirt that lead to the opening like a little pathway. It looked very pretty and helped to distract Kudzu from the scary school for just a moment.

Until he heard his mother clear her throat, anyways. He snapped out of his reverie and looked up at his mother. She was glaring at him, which wasn’t that out of the ordinary. But it still didn’t feel nice.

“Go on then,” she said, pointing to the large opening in the side of the mountain. “I’ll follow.”

Kudzu glanced back at the opening. The rest of the dragons were gone now, but Kudzu still didn’t want to go anywhere near it. It looked dark and dreary. And to top it all off, the top of the entrance looked like it was covered in small, sharp teeth. Kudzu worried it might try and take a bite out of him if he got to close.

Behind him, Kudzu heard a soft tip tapping sound. His mother, tapping her claws on the ground. It was something she did when she got annoyed, usually at Kudzu for not doing something she had asked right that very second. Like going inside the mountain. The sound scared him, as it was usually followed by lots of yelling, the kind that made Kudzu want to cry afterwards.

But… the cave also scared him. Kudzu wasn’t sure which was scarier to be honest. His mother? Or the cave?

_Mother or the cave, mother or the cave, mother or the-_

“GO!” his mom roared, startling him enough that he made a break for the entrance. Looks like his mom was scarier than the cave.

Kudzu just made it inside the entrance when he came to a halt. He was inside, so his mother couldn’t yell at him anymore, but he wasn’t going in any further just yet.

For the moment, he decided to take in his new surroundings. Kudzu honestly couldn’t believe how big this cave actually was. The ceiling was so far away that Kudzu wondered is he could even make it to the top before his wings gave out on him. Scattered around were little glowing globes that added some color to the otherwise dark gray color. It reminded Kudzu of the flowers outside. It was… actually kind of nice.

Down on the ground with him looked just as nice too. There were lots of plants around, from colorful flowers to lush green vines that made Kudzu think of the rainforest, though the plants looked like they were being kept in little pots as opposed to the ground. Ahead and above his was a large sign that read “Welcome Students!” in large flowers. At various points in the wall were other openings, which Kudzu assumed lead deeper into the mountain.

It was all so much to take in, Kudzu had to look away from it all. Maybe he should check to see if his mom was almost inside. It sure was taking her a long time, he thought and turned back towards the ledge. Maybe she had-

… No one was there.

Panicked, Kudzu darted back out onto the ledge, searching all around to see if he could spot her anywhere. He even looked to the sky, hoping he could spot her orange wings somewhere above him. But she wasn’t there.

His breathing increased rapidly, but he still felt like he wasn’t getting enough air. Did she leave? She-she couldn’t leave. She said she would follow him inside!

He looked out over the direction he thought they had flown in from. A part of him wanted to take off and try to catch up to his mother. Surely she couldn’t have made it that far.

But... he knew that wouldn’t be the smartest move. His mom was so much bigger and stronger than him. He wouldn’t be able to catch up with her and plus, his wings still ached from this morning. They would give out before he even spotted the rainforest, he was certain.

Scared and on the verge of tears, Kudzu slunk back into the cave. He wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to do now that he was here.

A little further in the cave, sitting beside a small wooden desk, were three dragons that Kudzu hadn’t noticed before. Two of them were larger, a little closer to his mom’s size and looked like they were members of the same tribe. They were both mostly black, but one had hints of purple on her belly and the other had large silver scales running down her back. Seated next to the silvery dragon was a dusty colored dragon about the same size as Kudzu, so he was most likely the same age as him or at least close to it. He looked incredibly bored.

Maybe he should go speak with one of them? Would they know what he was supposed to do now that he was here?

No. Kudzu was not ready to speak to anyone when he was by himself. He couldn’t do it. However…

Kudzu glanced at the greenery lining the walls. He wasn’t ready to speak to other dragons, but the plants were a different story. It wasn’t quite like having an actual conversation, but Kudzu didn’t mind. Plants didn’t judge you or call you names. He liked talking to them.

Kudzu reached out with his power, taking in the voices of the plants. From what he could sense, the plants were quite happy here and very well taken care of. It made him happy to hear that.

_Wonder how many plants are actually here?_ He thought, pushing his powers a little further.

There were small pockets of them throughout the mountain, but two places in particular he sensed had a very dense gathering of plants. One was further up into the mountain, but the other was just down one of the tunnels leading from the cave he was currently in.

Well, he didn’t know what to do so he may as well go check it out, right? That seemed like the right thing to do in this situation.

Cutting off his power, Kudzu slowly crept towards the tunnel that would lead to the plants. His wings began to flutter like they do when he’s excited or happy, but he forced himself to walk slowly. He didn’t want the three dragons to notice him.

But luckily for him, they were too busy talking with each other to see him and Kudzu was able to slip into the tunnel without being spotted. He sauntered up the pathway, letting his powers loose so he could find out where to go.

There! The voices were coming from a bright cave opening, which Kudzu thought was a little unusual since everywhere else had been a little dark. He picked up his pace and raced towards the opening. He spotted some greenery when-

**WHAM**

Kudzu let out a yelp as he collided with something hard and fell backwards onto his haunches. He rubbed his snout, eyes stinging with tears. That hurt!

Wiping his eyes, Kudzu stood back up and puzzled over the entrance. It looked all clear, so what had he run into? He reached his talons out slowly until he felt something warm underneath them. He tapped on whatever it was, which earned him a soft tink tink noise.

It was glass. He had run into a glass wall. He huffed indignantly. Who thought it was a good idea to put a glass wall here, where anyone could run into it? The nerve! Kudzu wondered how he was even supposed to get inside when he noticed a silver handle off to the side.

Ah, so it wasn’t a wall. It was a door. He still didn’t think it was a good idea to put glass in an entrance.

He took hold of the handle and pulled. The door swung open, letting some of the heat escape. Kudzu walked into the room, leaving the door open. It was not only very warm and humid, but it was also very bright. Above him, Kudzu could just barely make out some more glass covering the opening the roof. It hurt his eyes to look at for too long.

It reminded Kudzu of being back in the rainforest.

The variety of plans was also very reminiscent of his home. There were so many of them! So many colors and scents, it was almost a little overwhelming, even for someone who lived in a rainforest. The front of the cave was very neat and orderly. All the plants were growing in pots on top of tables, all in neat little rows. Some were flowers, some were just greenery and Kudzu was certain he could smell some spices. Further back things got a little wilder. Lots of small trees, some of which had fruit growing on them.

It was _amazing._

Kudzu focused his powers again, taking in the different plants. Off to his side, he sensed some small flowers that were being kept away from the other plants for some reason. They hadn’t even bloomed yet and were being kept in their own individual pots. He wondered why they were off by themselves.

He walked over to the little table they were on to investigate. He was just able to peak over the top of the table if he stretched his neck as far as it could go. He could sense the excitement in the little plants. They were eager to bloom and show off their beauty.

But there was one plant that stood out from the others. Although it was just as excited, it was smaller than the others and it felt a little weak. Kudzu wondered if it would even be able to bloom on its own.

“Hello little flower!” he said to it, reaching out his talons to try and touch it gently with his claws. “You’re really tiny, aren’t you? Kudzu can help with that!”

He closed his eyes and focused all his power onto the little flower. This was the part his mom would always get mad at him about. In addition to talking with plants, he should also be able to make them grow at will. He was constantly told about another LeafWing named Sundew, whose powers were so great that she was able to make things grow to great sizes in the blink of an eye.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make things grow at great speeds like this Sundew. He could barely even makes things grow at all. The plants just didn’t seem to respond to him well.

This time was really no different. He focused as hard as he could, face scrunched up tight enough that it was beginning to ache, but not much happened.

His eyes snapped open and his shook his head to try and rid himself of the ache. The flower looked a little bigger and was even starting to bloom a bit. He had did that! He had helped it bloom! Kudzu let himself be proud, before a voice that sounded an awful lot like his mother’s slithered into his ears.

_You poured all of your energy into this and that’s all you could manage to do? Pathetic._

His head drooped.

“Kudzu is sorry he couldn’t help more."

The flower didn’t seem to be too upset. Quite the opposite actually. It seemed a little smug that it was getting to bloom before the others. Kudzu couldn’t help the smile that came over his face.

The pots the flowers were in looked like they would be very light and easy to carry. Kudzu wondered if anyone would mind if he just took this one.

“Hello there,” a voice from behind him said. “Who might you be?”

Kudzu whirled towards the voice, tail smacking into the small table and nearly knocking off some of the plants in the process. He didn’t think anyone else was in here!

The voice had come from a RainWing. Judging from her size, Kudzu figured she was closer to his mother’s age. Her wings were slightly spread out so they touched the edges of the tables and she was a dark green color speckled with lighter green throughout. She kinda matched the plants that were further back in the cave.

Kudzu shook his head at her, still unwilling to speak with another dragon just yet. But the RainWing didn’t seem to notice, or she didn’t react to him shaking his head anyways. She continued staring in his direction like she was still waiting on a response. Kudzu noticed her eyes were a very light blue.

She tilted her head slightly. “I know you’re there. I could hear you talking to the flowers.” She didn’t sound mad or anything. Mostly she just sounded curious.

Kudzu swallowed hard. At least she sounded nice and she wasn’t yelling at him or anything.

“K-Kudzu,” he finally managed to squeak out.

“That’s your name?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She smiled. Kudzu felt himself relax a bit. Her smile looked much warmer than his mother’s, and friendlier too.

“Hello Kudzu,” she said. “My name is Tamarin, I’m one of the teachers here at Jade Mountain Academy. You sound pretty young, are you here for the orientation?”

Kudzu had no idea what an orientation was. His mother had not mentioned it. 

“Kudzu guesses he is.”

“You guess?” she asked, brow crinkling with confusion.

“Kudzu knows he is here for school, but that is all Kudzu knows.”

“Your parents didn’t go over anything with you? At all?” She still sounded confused, but Kudzu could hear some irritation come through in her voice as well. Kudzu hoped that irritation wasn't aimed at him.

“N-No. Kudzu’s mom dropped him off and left, but Kudzu wasn’t sure what to do, so he followed the flower’s voices here.”

Tamarin was frowning now. “Your mother just left you here?”

“...Yes.”

“Well that’s just… that’s… hmmm.” She started tapping her chin as the tips of her ears began to turn red. Kudzu hoped that didn’t mean anything bad.

“Canopy!” Tamarin called. “Could you come up here?”

Kudzu heard a faint “yeah” as a reply from somewhere deeper in the cave. How many other dragons were in this cave anyways?

“Well Kudzu,” Tamarin began, her attention back on him. “I’d love to show you where to go, but I still have some things I need to finish up here. Fortunately though, I know someone who can help instead.”

Emerging from one of the aisles was a dragonet about Kudzu’s size, maybe a little bit smaller. His scales were a light blue color with dark brown scattered throughout. He looked a lot like his mother, only he had little lightly colored spots on his face that Tamarin didn’t have. Kudzu had never seen those on a RainWing before. Strung across his chest was a satchel with the word “Canopy” stitched into the side of it.

The dragonet came to a stop alongside Tamarin, who put one wing around him. “This is my son, Canopy,” she said. “He’s around your age and will also be going to school.” She leaned down closer to Canopy’s level. “This is Kudzu,” she told him. “He’s one of the other students.”

Canopy looked at him and smiled. “Hey Kudzu!” he said, brushing one of Kudzu’s wings with his own. “Nice to meet you.”

Kudzu had seen other dragons do that when they were being friendly, but it had never been done to him. It was… actually kind of nice.

“Nice to meet Canopy too,” he replied.

“Would you mind showing Kudzu to the sign in table up front?” Tamarin asked Canopy. “He needs to get all of his info. Hopefully Fatespeaker hasn’t left yet.”

“Yeah sure, I don’t mind,” Canopy replied. “It’s almost time for me to meet Water Lily anyways.”

Canopy started walking towards the glass door, but Kudzu didn’t follow him. He looked back up at the little plant that he had helped along. He could see a little bit of color coming through now. The flower was pink.

“Can Kudzu take the flower?” he asked.

“The one you were talking to?”

“Yes,” he replied, feeling a little embarrassed about being caught talking out loud to a flower.

Tamarin gave him a sad smile. “I’m sorry, but those are going to be used for a project for the new students. They need to stay here for the time being.”

“Oh.” Kudzu had kind of expected that response, but he was still disappointed.

“Although,” Tamarin continued, “Since you’re a new student that means you’ll take part in the project as well. If you’d like, I can save this one for you. Would that be okay?”

Well, that was better than nothing at least. “That is okay,” Kudzu said. He headed over to the door where Canopy was waiting for him.

Tamarin nodded. “Good, I’ll make sure your name gets on it,” she said. “Better run along now, if Fatespeaker hasn’t left the desk yet she probably will here soon.”

“We’ll catch her, don’t worry!” Canopy replied, exiting through the door into the tunnel.

Canopy made sure to shut the door behind Kudzu and the two dragonets made their way down the tunnel.

“You’re a LeafWing, right?” Canopy asked.

“Right,” Kudzu replied.

“I thought so!” Canopy said. “You’re the first one I’ve actually seen, but they’ve been described to me a lot. Is that why you were talking to the flower? I heard some LeafWings can do that.”

“Kudzu can talk to plants, yes.”

“That’s really nifty,” Canopy said.

Kudzu couldn’t help but smile. He’d never heard Leafspeak be described as nifty before.

“Canopy is a RainWing, yes?” Kudzu asked. He was fairly certain Canopy was a RainWing, and yet he’d never seen RainWings with those spots on their face.

“I’m half RainWing actually,” Canopy replied. “The other half is SeaWing.”

Half RainWing and half SeaWing? Kudzu didn’t know of anyone who had two different tribes in them.

Canopy must’ve caught his confused expression, so he continued explaining.

“Yeah, I’m a hybrid,” he clarified. “My mom, Tamarin, is a RainWing. But my dad, Pike, is a SeaWing. So there you go! Half RainWing, half SeaWing”

Kudzu had heard of SeaWings before, but he’d never seen one before. Only RainWings and other LeafWings. He’d also never heard of dragons from different tribes being together before.

“Do SeaWings look like RainWings?” he asked Canopy.

“Nope! They look pretty different from each other,” Canopy replied. “I actually look mostly like a RainWing, except for these bad boys,” he pointed to the spots on his face, “and for these,” he flicked his tail along his back, where some of his spines had webbing in between them. “Those are from me being part SeaWing.”

“What do they do?”

“The webs, I have no idea,” Canopy admitted. “Help me swim better or something? But I’m not a very good swimmer so they’re no help. The spots can glow though, watch!” He lit up the spots on his face to demonstrate.

“Oh, that is cool,” Kudzu said.

“Yeah, they’re pretty neat. A full SeaWing uses them to communicate, but since I only have these few I can’t do that. Water Lily has more glowing spots than me.”

“Who is Water Lily?” Kudzu asked. He remembered Canopy mentioning that name is the plant cave.

“She’s my sister,” Canopy said. “You’ll get to meet her soon, I’m sure she’d love to meet you.”

The tunnel came to an end and the two dragonets found themselves in the entry cave. Canopy darted ahead before Kudzu could ask anymore about his sister.

“Fatespeaker, wait!” he called.

One of the black dragons from earlier was still there, packing things up at the desk. The other two dragons that were with her before were no longer there. She started a bit when she heard Canopy and nearly dropped the items bundled in her arms.

“Jeeeez Canopy, why the urgency?” she asked playfully. Nearly scared the nightlights out of me.”

Canopy skidded to a stop near her desk. “I have Kudzu with me, he didn’t get to sign in earlier,” he said, flicking his tail to indicate the LeafWing still standing by the tunnel.

The dragon named Fatespeaker looked up and met his eyes. “Oh!” she exclaimed, face lighting up. “Yes, I remember seeing your name! The little LeafWing. I was wondering when you would show up.” She dropped her items on the desk and began rummaging through them. “How did you manage to sneak past me little guy, I’m usually incredibly perceptive!”

Kudzu slowly walked over to the desk and Fatespeak continued to rummage through her belongings. She didn’t act like she was actually waiting for an answer to her question so Kudzu didn’t give one.

“Leeeeet’s see here,” she said as she pulled out a satchel that matched the one Canopy was wearing. “Here we are!” she exclaimed, handing Kudzu the satchel. It had the name “Kudzu” stitched into the side of it. “This will have everything you need here, a map of the school, a list of your classes, your library card and even a blank journal with a quill and some ink!” She scratched at her neck. “We’re trying to encourage the students to keep a journal. It’s a good way to practice your writing too.”

Kudzu opened up and satchel and peered inside. Everything Fatespeaker had listed off rapidly appeared to be in it. He started sifting through them as Fatespeaker packed up the rest of her items.

“Well I don’t know about you two, but I’m off to the auditorium cave!” she said. “Orientation is going to start soon and I just love seeing all the new hopeful faces!”

“Didn’t you already see those ‘new hopeful faces’ since you checked them all in?” Canopy asked.

“Yeah well, maybe I just like seeing them again!” Fatespeaker retorted as she headed towards another tunnel. “You two should follow unless you want to be laaaaate!” she called back to them.

Kudzu felt a tap on his shoulder. “She’s right, we should head on to the cave,” Canopy said. “I mean, I’ve already heard what they’re gonna say, but you haven’t yet, so.”

“Okay,” Kudzu said. He closed up the satchel and slung it around his shoulders like how Canopy was wearing his.

The two dragonets walked into the tunnel Fatespeaker had taken. Kudzu could hear her not too far ahead, humming something.

“What is Fatespeaker?” Kudzu asked Canopy.

“She’s a NightWing, if that’s what you meant,” Canopy replied.

“That is what Kudzu meant,” he said.

Up ahead Kudzu could hear murmuring over Fatespeaker’s humming. It sounded like quite a few other dragons were crowded into the cave they were heading towards. Kudzu didn’t like that one bit.

The tunnel let them out into a large cavern, packed with dragons of all sizes. At the back of the cave was a raised platform with several older dragons and some dragonets that looked to be around Kudzu’s age. He saw Fatespeaker climb up the stairs onto the platform and sit next to a small green dragon. He had spots all over his body similar to the ones on Canopy.

_He must be a SeaWing,_ Kudzu thought. There was another dragon that looked like Fatespeaker, another NightWing most likely, and another SeaWing, this one a deep blue color. Kudzu couldn’t place the tribes of the others though.

The voices from the cave were starting to get to him. It was too loud for his liking, too many voices bouncing around the cave. Kudzu wanted to run back down the tunnel, back to where it was quieter, but Canopy was already walking towards the crowd. Kudzu tried to follow but found his legs didn’t want to work properly. For now, he was frozen in place.

Luckily, Canopy noticed that Kudzu was no longer beside him.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, walking back over to Kudzu and sitting down next to him.

Kudzu shook his head. “T-too many dragons.”

“Not a fan of crowds, huh?” Canopy said. “That’s okay, they don’t really thrill me either.”

It wasn’t quite that Kudzu just wasn’t a fan of crowds, but he honestly didn’t know how to go about explaining that.

“How about we sit over there then?” Canopy asked, flicking his tail over to a spot by the wall, away from the other dragons. “We’d still be able to hear everything just fine from over there.”

Kudzu nodded, following closely behind Canopy over to the wall. He felt a small bit of warmth in his chest. He really liked that Kudzu didn’t force him to sit with the other dragons the way his mother surely would have. She probably would’ve told him to stop being such a baby as well, which Canopy had nicely refrained from doing.

They both settled against the wall, set their satchels down and waited for orientation to start.

“Hey, while we’re waiting, you should check to see who your clawmates are!” Canopy said. “It’ll show you on the map.”

“Clawmates?” Kudzu asked as he opened up his satchel and retrieved the map from inside.

“The dragons you’ll be rooming with while you stay here,” Canopy said. “It’ll be listed on the map next to a gold star. The star is to show which room is yours. I keep meaning to look and see who my clawmates are, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

Kudzu shuddered. He certainly did not like the idea of rooming with other dragons while he was here, not one little bit.

He unfurled the map and skimmed through to find the gold star. It was stuck next to the section labeled “Sleeping Caves.” Before Kudzu could read the names of the dragons he’d be living with, Canopy yanked the map out of his talons.

“Hey, that’s my cave!” He exclaimed, leaning in close to the map. “Yeah look, I’m listed as your clawmate!”

Canopy handed the map back to Kudzu. Sure enough, underneath the star was the name “Canopy.”

“We’re gonna be clawmates, isn’t that cool?” Canopy said.

It was cool, actually. Kudzu had already decided that he liked Canopy. He was friendly and didn’t push Kudzu into doing things he didn’t want to do. He wouldn’t mind rooming with him.

“Yeah! Kudzu will like rooming with Canopy,” Kudzu said.

His gaze shifted back towards the map, intending to look at more of the map itself, when he noticed more writing underneath Canopy’s name. “Scrollreader.”

Kudzu frowned. Was this another dragon?

“What is ‘Scrollreader’?” he asked.

“Oh, Scrollreader is another student here,” replied Canopy casually. He pointed up at the platform towards a small black dragon with hints of gold on his snout, wings and feet. “That’s him right there. He’s pretty quiet and enjoys reading a lot.”

_Good,_ thought Kudzu. Maybe this Scrollreader wouldn’t be too bad to room with either.

“He’s the son of the school’s librarian, Starflight,” Canopy continued, pointing to the other large black dragon that looked like Fatespeaker, “and the school’s founder, Sunny,” his talons shifted a smaller golden dragon. “They’re both really nice, you should talk with them when you get the chance!”

“Hmmm,” was all Kudzu could say. “What about the other students? Are they quiet too?”

“Weelll, not really,” Canopy replied. “I think Scrollreader is actually the quietest. But then again, I haven’t met everyone yet either.”

“Who has Canopy met?” Kudzu asked.

“I’ve met Coatimundi before,” he replied, pointing to the dusty colored dragonet Kudzu had seen earlier. “He’s insanely smart and a little on the greedy side. He’s probably smuggled in stuff that he’ll try and sell to the other students. And… I’ve also met Angelfish.” Canopy pointed to a SeaWing that was mostly white with hints of pink. “She’s rude, so I’d avoid her if I were you. There’s also… oh hey, Water Lily, over here!”

Canopy began waving at another dragonet that looked similar to him. She waved back with her wings and started over to them.

“That is Canopy’s sister?” Kudzu asked.

“Yeah, she’s really nice, you’ll love her!”

“Hey,” Water Lily said as she came within earshot. “Where have you- ah!”

Canopy grabbed her arm and yanked towards him and Kudzu. “Water Lily, this is Kudzu,” he said, stretching his wing out and resting it on her back. “Kudzu, this is Water Lily.”

Water Lily was a gray-blue color with washed out purple scales on her wings. The blue faded to a light pink around her feet and at the end of her tail. She had the same spots on her face as Canopy did and even more going down her neck.

Kudzu thought she looked really pretty. He absentmindedly grabbed onto his tail as his talons grew shaky.

Water Lily stepped away from Canopy and brushed Kudzu’s wings with her own. “Hey Kudzu. Thanks for keeping my brother company, that was nice of you.”

Kudzu could hear her talking but couldn’t quite make out what she was saying. His attention was focused elsewhere, such as the tingling spot on his wing where Water Lily had brushed her own wings. Is that something he should be worried about?

Water Lily was staring at him. Shoot, he was supposed to say hi back, wasn’t he. Kudzu honestly wasn’t sure he would get anything out on account his throat felt like it was closing, but he did finally manage to emit a noise that sort of sounded like the word “Hi.”

She smiled at him, though her expression looked a little concerned. Kudzu didn’t mind though, he was used to other dragons being a little weirded out by him. At least she was still being nice. Nice enough that his wings started doing that silly fluttering thing they did when he was nervous.

“Actually, _I_ was keeping _him_ company, thank you,” Canopy said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah I know. Mom said you were escorting a LeafWing around.”

“Well we… really only got to see the sign in table, sooo,” Canopy looked back over at Kudzu. “Maybe we can do an actual tour or something after the speech?”

“Kudzu would like that,” he replied. “What speech?”

“Some of the teachers here,” Water Lily said, flicking her tail towards the group of dragons on the platform. “They’re the ones who made the school. They just talk about the school and what to expect here. Canopy and I already got the rundown since our parents are also teachers here.”

“Oh, okay,” Kudzu replied just as a large brown dragon clapped his wings together to get their attention.

“Here we go,” Water Lily said. “They’re about to start.”

\----

The speech, in Kudzu’s opinion, had been a bit boring. They talked about the teachers and the goals of the school, which was nice and all, but it wasn’t enough to really keep Kudzu’s attention. So he ended up tuning them out.

Then suddenly, the speech was over. The dragons around him were all getting up, some of them exited into the tunnels and some of them got up on the stage and began talking with the teachers.

“Is it… is it over?” Kudzu asked. 

“Yeah, it’s over,” Water Lily said. “We can go do the tour now if you’d like. That’s what the rest of the orientation is about, getting to know the teachers and looking around the school.”

“Kudzu would like that.”

“Cool, want to check out the sleeping caves first?” Canopy asked. 

“Sure.”

The sleeping caves were actually rather nice, much better than what Kudzu was envisioning. There were three sleeping spots in their cave, one for him, one for Canopy and one for Scrollreader. Kudzu’s looked like his bed he had back in the rainforest. There were a couple of desks and even some bookcases.

“We can even decorate it however we want!” Canopy said.

They also went to go check out Water Lily’s cave. It pretty much looked the same, except there were only two sleeping spots instead of three.

“I only have one other clawmate,” Water Lily explained. “It’s gonna be Tetra.”

“Who is Tetra?” Kudzu asked.

“She’s a friend of ours,” Canopy said. “Her mom is a very good friend of our mom, so we keep in touch a lot.”

The trio moved on to some of the classrooms next. Kudzu got to see the room he had sensed earlier, the one with all the leafy plants in it. It was very cool looking and even had a large opening in the side so they could see down the mountain, but he liked the garden cave a bit better.

Kudzu even got to meet some of the teachers; an older SeaWing named Webs, who is the history teacher, and Canopy and Water Lily’s dad, Pike. He would be teaching self defense, something Kudzu really wasn’t looking forward to.

The next stop was the Library, which was nice and quiet, then the Prey Center, where they decided to have a snack before continuing on. Seeing everything like this made things a little less intimidating for Kudzu.

“So what do you think?” Canopy asked as the trio made their way back into the entrance cave. “Feeling a bit more comfortable with the school?”

“Yes,” Kudzu replied then, feeling bold, added, “Kudzu enjoyed walking around with his new… friends.” There. He said it. Friends. How would they react to that? Maybe by saying, no, they certainly were not friends and would never want to be friends?

...No. Neither of them looked disgusted by the idea of being friends with him. So Kudzu decided to call that one a win.

“Yeah, that was fun,” Canopy said. “I wish we could hang out a little more, but since orientation is over your mom’ll probably be here soon, huh.”

“Yes,” Kudzu said. “Kudzu should go wait for her.”

“Well, we’ll see you in a couple of weeks then Kudzu,” Water Lily said. “It was nice to meet you.”

“It was nice meeting Canopy and Water Lily too,” Kudzu replied.

“We’ll hang out some more when classes start!” Canopy said. “See you later.”

Kudzu slunk back towards the entrance while the siblings made their way into one of the tunnels. He sat down just outside the cave and waited for his mom to arrive. 

Kudzu saw several other families leave the school, but none of them paid him much attention. He even saw a few parents come to pick up their dragonets while waiting for his own mother to pick him up.

He waited. And waited. And waited. And…

Kudzu looked over his shoulder towards the cave. It was empty. All the other dragons here for orientation were gone.

He sighed. Maybe his mom was just running late.

So he still waited, until…

“Kudzu?”

He turned back towards the cave to see Canopy, Water Lily and Tamarin standing at the entrance. Tamarin stepped closer to him.

“How come you’re still here?” she asked.

“Kudzu’s mom is not here yet,” he replied.

Tamarin frowned. 

“Your mother should’ve known what time orientation ended,” she said. The tips of her ears started turning red again like they did in the garden. Maybe that meant she was annoyed or something.

“Maybe she’s just running really late?” Canopy offered.

Tamarin didn’t look completely convinced by that explanation. She took a deep breath.

“Kudzu,” she started kindly. “We’re about to go take our sun time. I’m not sure if that’s something LeafWings do, but would you like to come with us?”

“What is sun time?” he asked.

“Guess it’s not something LeafWings do then,” Canopy said.

“Sun time is something RainWings and sometimes RainWing hybrids do. We sleep in the sun and it helps us recharge,” Tamarin explained.

That sounded a little boring to Kudzu, but if it meant he got to spend more time with his new friends then he wasn’t going to say no.

“Kudzu would like to come, but,” he started, looking back out towards the sky. “What if Kudzu’s mother shows up to get him?”

“If-When she gets here it wouldn’t hurt her to take a few minutes to look for you,” Tamarin replied. “Come along, let’s get to our sunning spot before the sun gets any lower.”

The siblings followed after their mom, who had taken the lead. Kudzu wasn’t too sure about leaving his spot but, if his mom wasn’t here yet…

Kudzu leapt up from his spot and trailed after the family, elated they had asked him to do something with them. Maybe staying here actually wouldn’t be too bad.


End file.
